


Loving You's A Bloodsport

by realliferumbelle



Category: Once Upon a Time RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-05
Updated: 2014-10-05
Packaged: 2018-02-20 00:44:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2408909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/realliferumbelle/pseuds/realliferumbelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bobby goes back to his hotel room after the season four premiere, preferring not to let himself get unreasonably jealous of Emilie's boyfriend. Until she shows up at his door. Title taken from Raleigh Ritchie's song, "Bloodsport."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Loving You's A Bloodsport

Since the day that they’d met, Bobby could never understand why a woman as stunning as Emilie de Ravin was such a huge fan of his work and of him. It seemed almost surreal—he had never seen himself as one to have fangirls or adoring fans. And for her to gush about his portrayal of Rumplestiltskin was almost overwhelming for him.

Bobby, on the other hand, was not-so-secretly a huge fan of his friend. While he remained fairly quiet on social media (while Em praised him constantly), he did take his opportunities every now and then to brag on her, though he much preferred to do so in the privacy of hanging out and running lines between takes to tell her how brilliant she was.

So as he sat rigidly watching the premiere in between Lana and Jen, he tried to lean over in front of everyone and get Em’s attention where she sat five or six seats down, but to no avail. She was captured by the episode playing out in front of her, and he just knew from the look in her eyes that she was anticipating the iconic dance scene they had filmed between Rumple and Belle.

Silently berating himself to stop staring at her, he leaned back in his seat once again and half-heartedly watched as Jen and Colin shared a moment on screen. Minutes later, little squeals throughout the crowd and a nudge from Lana brought him back to full attention as Emilie’s Belle was dragging Rumple through a room of the mansion they had filmed in.

His breath caught when his on-screen alter ego changed their outfits into classic Beauty and the Beast attire with a snap of his fingers. She was stunning, and the way she acted looking at him made his chest tighten every time. The raving about their on-screen chemistry was nothing new for them, but the feelings that came along with that was definitely a new thing for Bobby.

He hadn’t realized how much he’s missed actually having her physically near him until their first day back together for _Once_ was completely over. They texted often during the hiatus, and she’d call him every so often, but that was far from the same as having her next to him, having her lithe little arm snake around his elbow and hold him close to her in between takes.

They were each other’s best friends, and hard as it was to turn off that chemistry when the cameras stopped rolling, he managed. They were friends. Nothing more.

As much as he’d found himself wishing he could kiss her—just once—without the pretense of rehearsing or having the personas of Rumple and Belle to guard them.

The audience was enraptured by the dance scene—more squeals and “aww!” emanating from people all around him. And he’d always noticed first-hand the chemistry, the tension they created between Rumple and Belle that had made their fans long for more, but this scene had taken it to a completely new level. It wasn’t even necessarily anything he had been doing—the way she was looking at him was nothing short of a smolder.

He couldn’t stop his body from reacting to the scene—the groin of his jeans tightened, and he bit his lip hard as he saw his on-screen self dip her and _bloody hell the way those big blue eyes were darkening for him._

He was absolutely fucked.

And the only place he’d ever be able to have her was on screen.

* * *

The crowd had begun to thin out after the premiere, talk of heading out the after party milling all around him as Bobby sought out Emilie.

“Hey,” he heard from behind him, and he turned around to see Emilie, looking absolutely radiant. He hadn’t gotten the chance to speak with her during the pre-premiere festivities, but seeing her now, he realized that he wasn’t sure she had ever looked so beautiful. Her hair was straightened and swept to the side, and it even looked a little darker than usual. Her dress was dark and almost translucent in some places, sleeveless and showing off her toned arms, and her eyes were accentuated even more than usual with her smoky makeup. Everything about her was nothing short of stunning.

“Hey, how are you?” he replied, seeing Eric walking up to join Emilie.

“I’m good—oh hey, babe,” Em turned toward Eric, who wrapped an arm around her.

Bobby just nodded in greeting to Eric and continued, “Great episode, eh?”

“That dance scene turned out absolutely spectacular!”

“It was really good,” Eric responded. “Of course my favorite performance of yours will always be in my movie.”

He gave her a cheesy smile, and Bobby tried and failed to keep himself from visibly tensing.

“But hey, Bobby, turn the bedroom eyes down a little bit, huh? Man could get a little jealous here with your hands all over my girlfriend,” Eric said to Bobby, turning to him and giving him a playful nudge.

Bobby pretended to laugh and shifted uncomfortably.

Not knowing what else to say, Bobby nodded and waved. “Well, I’ll see you both later. I’m going to go say hi to the others.”

And with that, he walked away, not willing to indulge the ugly jealousy that was rearing its head inside of him.

So instead of making small talk with the others, he disappeared into the crowd and headed straight back to his hotel.

Later on, he laid on his bed in silence, aimlessly scrolling through Twitter for a bit and drinking a glass of whiskey. He tossed his phone aside and closed his eyes—trying his hardest not to think about whatever Emilie was up to.

And then his phone buzzed.

He groaned and picked it up, seeing a message waiting for him.

**_Em de Ravin  
_ ** _iMessage_

_Hey where did u go? Not coming out w us?_

He sighed and gave a quick reply.

_Tired. Not in the mood for that tonight._

She responded moments later.

_Are u ok?_

It made his heart hurt, how much she cared about him. Because surely she only cared about him as a brother, and she certainly didn’t want to hear all the reasons why he wasn’t okay right now.

So he typed back a quick response.

_Yes- go have fun_

He had fallen into a light, dreamless sleep when the phone laying on his chest buzzed again. Another message from Emilie.

_Still awake?_

He sat up and typed back another quick response.

_Yeah kind of dozing on and off. Can’t really sleep._

About five minutes later, he heard a knock on the door. He rose with a groan, expecting to see some confused, drunken college student who’d knocked on the wrong door or something. But anything but what was standing before him.

“Em.”

She was still in her outfit from the evening, smiling at him and still looking way too sexy for her to be standing at his hotel room door with just the two of them and no one else around.

“Hey,” she greeted.

“Hi.”

He stepped aside, making a motion for her to come in.

“Sorry, I just got back and didn’t have time to change, so I’m a little over-dressed.”

She whirled around to face him, her dress flaring out a little as she twirled, and Bobby found himself just standing and gawking at her for a beat.

_Say something._

“You look incredible, Em,” he choked out.

_Anything but that._

But she smiled even wider and gave him a small curtsy.

“Why thank you,” she replied, and he realized that she was mimicking their little scene between Belle and Rumple from way back in season one.

He smiled and then asked, “So what are you doing here?”

“Just wanted to come say hi. You’ve seemed kind of dodgy all night. What’s up?”

He shrugged, shaking his head and turning to walk back over toward his bed, sitting down on the edge of it.

“I told you. Just didn’t feel like it.”

“Ah, Rumple Bumple a little grumpy today?” she replied, that cheeky smile morphing into a grin.

“Shut up,” he mumbled, a hint of a smile playing on his lips.

She walked toward him, noticing the bottle of whiskey and empty glass residing on the night stand. She picked up the glass and turned to look at him.

“Oh, so you couldn’t come out and have a drink with us, but you can drink by yourself?”

“Em, I told you—“

She wasn’t having it, that much he could tell. The woman could read him like a book.

“Is this about what Eric said earlier? Because I really don’t think he meant any harm by it.”

Bobby refused to look at her, staring down at his bare feet and tapping them nervously against the carpet.

“In any bit of sarcasm,” he began, “I believe that sometimes there can be hints of truth.”

She cocked her head to the side and bit her lip, nodding.

“So you think my boyfriend’s jealous of you?”

Again, he shrugged.

“Not jealous—more annoyed.”

“Well, he knows we’re close, so there’s no reason for him to feel any sort of ill toward you.”

Perhaps it was the whiskey, and perhaps it was that he was just annoyed, but Bobby had lost his filter and mumbled, “Well, regardless, I wasn’t in the mood to listen to him blabber on about that bloody movie of his.”

He could tell she was angry now, and her brow furrowed, and she scoffed in disgust.

“Seriously, Bobby?”

“Look, I don’t know him all that well. You’re dating him, so there’s obviously something great about him. But that is literally all he talks about.”

She threw up her arms in defense, saying, “Well, he’s worked hard on it.”

“Em, from the bits I’ve seen, you are so far and above the caliber of acting and filming that they’ve offered.”

Defensively, she put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes at him even more.

“What, so are you saying it was a dumb career move?”

Bobby rose from the bed and made his way over to her, placing a calming hand on her shoulder.

“No. What I’m saying is that while it’s decently written, I think that Eric thinks much too highly of himself and doesn’t give you enough credit.”

“Well, that’s your opinion then,” she responded curtly.

He removed his hand from her shoulder, rubbing his hands over his eyes and up through his hair, letting out a heavy sigh.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, turning away from her. “Just burned out from filming, and I’m taking it out on you.”

“And why are you taking it out on me?”

He whirled back around toward her and shrugged.

“Because you’re here? Because you’re a close friend? I don’t know, Emilie.”

“No, there’s more to it than that.”

He clenched his jaw, stuffing his hands into his pockets and knowing that unless he very quickly found a way out, he was going to end up spilling his guts all over the place.

“Bobby, you can tell me anything. You’re one of my best friends.”

That made his heart hurt even more. Just a best friend. That’s all he was to her. Hell, he was twenty years her senior. There was no reasonable way that she could ever see him as more than a caring, big brother figure. There was no point in this stupid attraction. There was no point in ever telling her. He just had to grin and bear it and hope that it would go away. He wished that he could chalk it up to his family being on the other side of the world for nine months out of the year and as a result, that caused an immense strain on his marriage, and he was just lonely.

But he knew that wouldn’t be as big of a problem if he’d never met Em.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

She was looking up at him now with those eyes—those damned blue eyes and for a moment, he just zoned out in staring at her and wondered how something so beautiful could even want to be around him.

“I don’t know,” he replied, “Just—watching the premiere, and seeing the dance scene…The tension in that scene… Maybe Eric had a point. I wouldn’t be thrilled about seeing my girlfriend making ‘fuck-me’ eyes at another man.”

She smiled and placed a comforting hand on his arm.

“It’s just a scene—“

And that broke him. Because it was so much more than an on-screen persona.

“You know it’s more than that, Em. It’s never just been running lines and being the characters. You know that. I’ve seen it, even if you haven’t said it. There’s more.”

He watched as her eyes softened, her lips parting and brows furrowing in understanding. It became clear that she wanted to have this talk just about as much as he did.

“Bobby, we can’t. We both have—“

His chest tightened even more, so he cut off whatever argument she was about to make and went for broke.

“You think I don’t know that? But I can’t keep pretending that this chemistry is just an on-screen thing. I at least need to tell you. This isn’t just acting anymore for me. I honestly can’t remember when it stopped being acting. Some roles are more difficult to play, but this… this is just effortless.”

He noticed that her eyes were watering, and he hated that. Hated that he was causing this. Hated that this had to happen at all.

“So what are you saying?” she choked out.

He stopped thinking and let the words flow out.

“I’m saying that I don’t care if Eric is jealous of me because in the end, he’s the one that has you for real. So, if anything, I am wildly jealous of him.”

“Bobby—“

“Tell me you don’t want me, and I’ll shut up, and you can go back to your room, and we can try to forget this ever happened.”

Tears starting falling from her eyes, and the small lump in Bobby’s throat began to grow even bigger. This was it. This was the part where she told him no. The part his fantasies never let him play out but his rational mind always expected.

“I can’t do that,” she whispered.

_Oh. That’s not part of the plan._

“He may have me, but Bobby, you’ve always had a piece of my heart. And that piece just grows more and more every day, and I’ve tried to make it stop because I never thought that—I didn’t think you felt that way, didn’t think there was a chance. And now we’ve got ourselves in this mess, and I’ve got a boyfriend now, and— and I still find myself wanting you.”

“Em…”

She reached out and took one of his hands in her own.

“I know that this would have immeasurable consequences, but I’ve been settling because thought this was just some unrequited, messed up, ridiculous fantasy.”

The tears overflowed from his eyes, trailing down and licking his cheeks in the strangest mixture of regret that he hadn’t said something sooner, dread for what this would mean, and love, just pure love for the woman in front of him.

“How could I not fall in love with you?”

She laughed bitterly and shook her head, looking down at the floor.

“Because there are so many reasons why this shouldn’t happen.”

Bobby curled a finger underneath her chin, willing her to look up at him. She met his gaze, leaning into his touch. And then her eyes flicked down to his lips.

“Tell me what you want, Em. I’ll do anything for you. Just tell me.”

She stared up at him again, and he could see the fear that was threatening to overtake the sheer resolve and determination he saw in her eyes. She was strong, his Emilie, and she wasn’t going to let the fear win. Her arms came up and snaked around the back of his neck, a hand reaching up to stroke the hair at the nape of his neck.

“I want you. Nobody else.”

And more effortless than any scene, she brought his lips down to his, and they crashed together in an absolutely graceless but glorious embrace. Their noses bumped and she bit down too hard on his bottom lip, but he couldn’t even care because this was real and right, and there were no more walls up. Just Bobby and Em.

He pulled back at last, resting his forehead gently against hers, and whispered, “Then that’s what we’ll do.”

“This is gonna suck, Bobby—“

He leaned back and reached up to cup her face with both hands, placing a quick, gentle kiss on her forehead and pulling her close to him when he noticed she was still crying.

“I know, sweetheart. I know.”

“I’m breaking up a family here, I—“

“Shhhh. Love, we only see each other a handful of times a year. Things are already a little rocky. More than a little. I think we’ve been heading down the road to an ending for awhile.”

A sob wracked her body as she buried her face in his shoulder, and he let his hands trail along her bare shoulder blades.

“That doesn’t make it any better, Bobby—“

“We’re gonna be okay. I know this is the farthest thing from ideal, Em. I know that. But I want this with you.”

She gave him one last squeeze before leaning back in his arms and facing him.

He met her eyes and offered, “We’ll get through this, love. I promise.”

He placed a thumb against her cheek and wiped away the tears that continued to fall, and she pursed her lips and nodded. They would make it. Maybe true love wasn’t just for the fairytales after all.

“What was it that I said in that one episode?” she asked. “How I’d fight for Rumple?”

“Ahh, yes, I remember that,” he responded, smiling. She was strong. She believed in them. He could see it in her eyes.

She grabbed both sides of his face and brought him down to her lips again in a searing kiss. Dazed when she pulled back, Bobby just stared blankly at her. They were going to do this. They were going to fight for this.

“I’ll fight for you,” she whispered. “I’ll never stop fighting for you, Bobby.”


End file.
